Native Plants and Sustainable Agriculture

If you were asked to make a list of edible plants you would most likely envision a farm list what you see growing on that man-made plot. However before we mastered agriculture we foraged. We consumed what was native in the area for our nutritional needs and learned what plants cured our ailments. Native plants evolved and adapted into species that are perfectly suited for their environment. They work together with the weather, land, native species, and native people who understand and nurture this connection.

If we are going to work towards a real local and sustainable food system we must begin integrating native plants into our farms and gardens. Farming native plants takes much less maintenance because they have adapted to the environment. Little attention needs to be put on pest control, irrigation, and adding nutrients. Also since they adapted with the rest of the local environment they can help conserve soil, water, and energy as well as provide habitat and shelter to many native insects and animals that can help you combat pests that could attack the rest of your crops.

A good way to learn about the native species in your area and explore which you may want to integrate into your farm or garden is to forage. Online you can find recommendations for books on foraging in your area, information on guided tours or classes, and blogs by local foragers that will tell you where to find certain plants as well as recipes to show you how to integrate native foods into your diet. One thing to keep in mind when planning a foraging trip is to know where you are allowed to forage and to be respectful of treaty rights given to First Nations people over certain areas.

Some good resources for the Pacific Northwest are:

Books:

Northwest Foraging: a guide to edible plants of the Pacific Northwest

By Doug Benoliel

Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West

By Michael Moore

Classes:

http://www.wildernesscollege.com/wild-mushroom-identification.html

Blogs:

http://pacificcrestforaging.com/

http://firstways.com/

Commensality: The Importance of Social Eating

Creating a meal and sharing it with friends and family has long been an important aspect of eating. However our society has increasingly viewed eating as an individual act. Convenience, price, calories, nutrients, fats, etc. are what most Americans consider when making their daily food choices. Under these conditions many would consider a Slimfast shake and a McDonald's salad a reasonable meal. Lunch breaks are squeezed into a half hour period and in many workplaces lunch breaks are alternated so there is somebody working at all times. The half hour allows for just enough time for you to grab your Slimfast out of the fridge, hop in your car, drive to McDonald's, pick up your salad, and consume your meal while heading back to work.

What happened to commensality? Cultures are shared and bonds are created when a meal is shared. We need to bring the importance of community back into food. You can often learn a lot more about someone from cooking with them than from talking. Food engages all your senses and can speak a lot about a person. Heritage is passed down through food. Teaching the younger generations how to cook and interact with food allows them engage with their culture and bond with the past. Sharing food and cooking techniques with friends gives them a chance to learn about your culture. Giving the cultures a taste, a smell, a feeling can increase respect between groups of people. Sharing food can also bring out emotion, like the comfort felt from eating a meal cooked by mom or the romance your partner (or date) cooking for you.

Culture, emotions, and bonding are all integral parts of eating a meal that are being squeezed out because of our busy lifestyle. We need to make social eating more of a priority and a focus when considering what to eat in a day. The connections food can create between people are too valuable too overlook.

Complete the Cycle, Compost!

When developing a relationship with food it is important to stay connected throughout the entire food cycle. Your interaction should not end after you have consumed a delicious home cooked meal. To complete the cycle of your food's life you must return what is left over from preparation back to the land. You can do this by composting. Composting in an urban setting has become increasingly easier. If you do not have a yard there are small indoor compost containers available to purchase. If you do have a yard (of any size) you can purchase a compost bin or make one. One method to making one is to get a plastic bin or trash can with tight fitting lid, drill a few holes (not too big) in it for circulation, and place it in a place that is out of the way and not in direct sunlight or you may dry your compost out. Now to the actual composting...

The following a some things you can compost:
vegetables, fruits, nuts and their shells, flowers, leaves, twigs, beans, pasta, rice, egg shells, coffee grounds, paper bags, newspaper, manure, and rodent bedding (only if it is paper-based or shavings)

Here are a few things to avoid adding to your compost:
meat, dairy, large amounts of acidic fruit such as citrus, and carnivorous animal waste or litter (ex. cat waste)

Make sure you are adding both "greens" and "browns" to your compost. Worms and microbes do the job of turning the waste into nutrient rich compost, so in order for them to be most effective you want to provide them with a healthy environment. Greens provide nitrogen which is the protein and browns provide carbon which is the energy that proteins need to flourish. Without enough greens it will take much longer for browns to break down and without browns the greens decompose too quickly creating a smelly slime.

Greens include:
food scraps including egg shells, grass clippings, coffee grounds, fresh weeds and leaves

Browns include:
dried leaves, paper, sawdust, straw, and wood products

Turn or stir the compost every few days to provide oxygen and after a few weeks or so you will have nutrient rich compost. You can use your compost on indoor or outdoor plants or donate it to a neighbor or local community garden.

Communtiy Gardens: Saving Detroit Once Again

In 1894, during the second summer of the Great Depression, Detroit Mayor Hazen Pingree purposed the Potato Patch Plan to help feed the city's less fortunate through the cultivation of vacant lots. Since the city's funds were scarce he called upon local churches and the wealthy to donate money to purchase hoes, seeds, and other necessary supplies. His request was responded with mocking and skepticism. Critics believed that the jobless would be too lazy to farm the empty lots and would just steal food from each other. Pingree disagreed and was determined to get the project going. He laid another levy on municipal employees and set up several public auctions where he even sold a few of his own prize possessions to raise money. Eventually enough money was raised and 3000 families applied for a plot of land but only 945 were able to get a spot in 1894. The Potato Patch Plan enrolled 1,546 families in 1895 and 1,701 in 1896. Needless to say his plan was a great success. It provided the people of Detroit with food as well as a sense of purpose and community in a time of economic destitution. Soon after the plan's success cities such as New York, Denver, Seattle, and Minneapolis began their own P-Patch programs.

Once again community gardens are playing a significant roll in improving the lives of impoverish people in Detroit. Deindustrialization brought with it a wake of abandoned lots, poverty, and crime transforming it into the nations "Murder Capital". The Detroit Agriculture Network, Earthworks Garden/Capuchin Soup Kitchen, The Greening of Detroit, and Michigan State University, as well as many other smaller organizations, have come together to transform many of Detroit's vacant lots into community gardens where citizens can learn, grow food, and feel pride. Turning some of Detroit's 400,000 vacant lots into urban farmland has saved the city money that it was costing them to keep up the lots and fight crime that was becoming an increasing problem in these abandoned sections of the city. It is also a more positive solutions than relocating citizens to more dense areas of Detroit which was being considered. The gardens have also become the solution to their "food desert" problem. Unless one has a car it can be near to impossible for many Detroit citizens to purchase fresh food of any kind, especially in the more impoverish areas. Detroit's local food movement, just as it did in 1894, is providing people with food and a sense of belonging or connectedness to those around them as well as the earth. School's are being linked up to many of the gardens providing children and teens with after school alternatives that keeps them away from crime and gives them a sense of purpose. Hundreds of community gardens are popping up all over Detroit and even more backyard gardens exist or are being developed. Bringing people back to their roots and connecting them to the land is saving the community and transforming the city.